Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, June 14, 2003

As a child, historian and author Michael Beschloss visited one of President Abraham Lincolns homes.

A guide said Lincoln didnt spank his sons. "He just let the boys run wildly through the house. From that moment on, Lincoln was the man for me," Beschloss said Saturday at the 24th annual Midland Writers Conference at Grace A. Dow Memorial Library.

Beschloss is working on a book about the last months of Lincolns life and how history might have been different if Lincoln hadnt been assassinated.

The Civil Wars centennial "was a big deal for a kid" when Beschloss was growing up about 30 miles south of Chicago.

At age 10, in 1965, he wanted to be a presidential historian, writing books and living in Washington, D.C.

Mission accomplished  and continuing.

People who want to follow in Beschloss professional footsteps get this first lesson: "Make sure that you have enormous good luck."

As a Williams College student, he studied under and helped Pulitzer Prize winning presidential biographer James MacGregor Burns.

When Beschloss wanted to get his revised senior thesis published, Burns sent him to the head of a publishing house. That publisher had, with great success, published another writers "Eleanor and Franklin," about the first lady and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Beschloss said he probably appeared to be 15 years old when he showed the publisher his proposed book on FDRs relationship with Joseph P. Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy.

The publisher accepted "Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance," published in 1980 when Beschloss was 24. It was "nicely reviewed and sold well," the writer recalled.

Beschloss was a historian at the Smithsonian Institution from 1982-86, has written seven books, and has been a commentator on PBS and ABC television news broadcasts.

He said he prefers to do his research  personally and carefully  before starting a book.

"I dont really show (my writing) to anyone until the book is done, which drives my wife crazy," he said.

But, seeking comments and criticism after a manuscript is done, "I always send it to about eight other scholars who have expertise in the field," Beschloss said.

He reread a 1993 book he and Strobe Talbott wrote about the end of the Cold War. "Its not bad, knowing what we did at the time," Beschloss said.

And he said that although co-writing strains some relationships  including that of ex-President Jimmy Carter and Carters wife, Rosalynn  Beschloss and Talbott remain good friends.

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About 70 people attended Beschloss keynote speech in the library auditorium. He also spoke Friday night to a Matrix:Midland audience at the Midland Center for the Arts auditorium.